Process of making explosives.



SEtRTQH BQQL ADAM CHARLES GIRARD, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

PRGCESS OF MAKENG EXPLOSWES.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,166, dated December 4. 1900. spplieation filed February 3, 1900- Serlsl No. 8,824. (No specimens.)

To allwhom it may concern! cent. The massis then thoroughly stirred and 1 ties of the-explosive. to b varied..& 1ll2 i...fl.

Be it known that I, ADAM CHARLES GI- HARD, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain new anduseful Improvementsin or Relating to the Manufacture of Explosives, (for which I have made application for Letters Patent in France. on the 80th of December, 1899, under No. 295,754, and in GreatBrit-ain on the SddayofJanuary, 1900, under N0. 214, of which thefollowing is a specifiation.

- Vegetable and animal oils used in the manufacture of chlorate explosive powders cannot be employed alone with chlorate and perchlorate, because in order to obtain a 'suificientlystrong explosion the oil must be added to the body supporting combustion in such quantity that it (the oil) will exude. 'In former patents it'has been stated that the solubility of nitro and azo derivatives in oil permitted the oil to be solidified while increasing its power and providing the explosive with advantageous properties, thus producing a substance which is solid when cold and temperature.

In the course of my investigations I have found that other bodies, such as soaps, are

capable of solidifying vegetable and animal oils and rendering them suitable for themanufacture'oi chlorate and perchlorate explosives bydiminishing at will the quantity of thenitro and azo derivatives and by leaving; out such substances altogether. Leaving out fectiveness and the bursting. power of the explosive; but as,.on the other hand, itreduces the cost of manufacture it-is useful to have an explosive less powerful, but also cheaper.

This process of solidification of the oil permits, moreover, both the efiectiven'ess andpropen,

will, thereby rendering it suitable for all the various requirements as regards industrial uses. This solidification of the animal orveg etable oils is efiected by the dissolution of a soap having either potash or sodaas its base, the soap being manufactured-with an animal or vegetable oil,or even with resin. The soap employed should -be first dried at a tempera: ture of between 120 andl30 centigrade, so as to drive out as much liquid or humidity as possible. The dried soap is added to the oil in the proportion of from ten to fifteen per liquid at a higher ofamyl, nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, andheated for two or three hours at a temperature between 150 and 170 centigrade. The whole'ef the soap will not dissolve. Conseqnently it will be necessary to filter the mass. In such case the operation of'filtering must take place at a temperature at which the solidified oil'is rendered liquid, which temperature depends on the nature of the oil employed. In the case of ricinic or castoroil, for instance, such filtration may be efiected at a temperature of between 105 and 115 centigrade. The filtered product is almostsolid and of aconsistency varying between that of Vaseline and paraffin. It dpes not run at the ordinary temperature, not even at'a tempera tureof40centigrada Iothissubstancemay very easily be added at a temperature of 80 centigrade the material to support combustion in the form of powder. This mass after -cooling'isvery plastic and can be easily introduced into the mining-holes, where it fills all the space and does not run out. It is possible to dissolve in this solidified oil nitro and azo derivatives, nitrated etherssu'ch as nitrate nitromannites-which dissolve in the solid} fied oil in the, mapner of nitrate derivatives, as in oil not so treated, and the solution when cold is simply slightlymore consistent in the case of solidified oil than in that of the ordinary oil. Acid derivatives may not be added 7 to such oil without-reducing it to its original condition. Thus picrio acid, for instance, forms an alkaline picrate in the oil, which thereby is reduced to almost its originai condition; v may be'added to it. In such oil a'va'riety of combustible bodies may be incorporatedsuch as starch, cellulose, dry pitch, resin, wood-charcoal, and sulfur-with or without nitro semitones-Waitresses also supporters of combustion, such as alkaline chlorates, perchlorates', nitrates, and the-like.

Below. are given several iormulze of explosives with solidified oil:

First. Chlorate of potassii1m,eighty parts; solidified oil, twenty parts.

Second. Perchlorate of ammonium, eighty parts; solidified oil, twenty parts.

Third. Chlorate of potassium, eighty parts; nitronaphthalene, six parts; solidified oil, fourteen parts.

but picrates which have no reaction Fourth. Pcrchlorateof potassium,seventy Iiw parts; solidified oil, sixteen parts; nitronnphthalene, four parts; vpicrate of potassuch as specified, may within the scope 0 f the invention be employed with like results. In the same manner while nitronaphthalene is mentioned in the claims as the combustible bodyeniployed it will be evident that other equivalent substances, such specified, may within the scope of the invention be employed with similar results.

What I claim as my invention, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.. In the manufacture of explosives, the process consisting in solidifying an oil by dissolving therein a suitable soap, and then addiiig a chlorate to support combustion.

2. In the manufacture of explosives, the process consisting in solidifying an oil by dis solving therein a suitabletsoap, then adding a chlorate to support combustion, and nitro- 4. In the manufacture of explosives the process consisting in solidifying the oil employed in such manufacture by adding dry soap thereto and heating the mixture, then filtering'the liquid product and adding a chlorate to support combustion. f

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

" ADAM CHARLES GIRARD.

\Vitncsses:

EDWARD P. MACLEAN, v EMILE :LEDREL. 

